Friday, March 27, 2009

Todays post is about the landscaping for my house. This was included in the contract as all houses in the estate need to at least finish the front graden in order to get back the 5k bond from the developers. Believe me when I say that 5k has already been spent many times over!So, this afternoon I met our young landscaper to once more go over the plans he drew and what he had 'in his head'. Can I just say, never before have I been so clueless, confused and so overwhelmed with all these decisions I needed to make. He had all these different coloured rocks, big ones that are going to be a feature, smaller rocks and 4 different coloured mulches. Which combination did I want???? Haha, how do I know, I think we just stood there for at least 15 mins both scratching our heads. He spoke about all the Australian natives he is going to put in and how the plants are going to be set out. I have no idea of the plant names but I know I am having Kangaroo paws right up to my front door with white pebbles and native grasses framing the driveway. I hour later, both of us still very confused, it all fell into place. I just said to him plant what you like just make sure it looks pretty and the plants attract the native birds. The pictures below are probably the best indication of the type of plantings I am having. I will say that I picked white granite boulders with very dark/black mulch to give the garden that striking colour difference, Plants are mainly silver, dark purple, red and yellow colours. I have no idea whats going to happen but for once I have to just sit back and trust him that it is going to look nice.

In this picture shows a native grass which is similar to what is going to be planted.

The following pictures I have no links so my apologies to the landscape companies I took these from. I Love this grass...I think its this one that will frame the driveway...

Rock gardens...

These are my granite rocks...I really like this look.

Update on house progress...The floor sander is trying to sand all our floors today but he was at the end of his patience when we rolled up. The poor guy was trying his best to do his job but made difficult as the tradies kept coming in and making a mess. Hopefully he will have peace and quite tomorrow as the first coat is suppose to go on. I can see the end now and I cant wait to move in and start a difference focus for this blog. The house is looking like a home, all new and sparkling (only because the windows have been cleaned LOL)

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Our blackbutt flooring...this is what it looks like with just one sand. We are going with a satin finish, just a more natural look.

Could not resist hehe ...another pic of our front door.

Just got back from the house. Our lovely landscape man is meeting us tomorrow (had to cancel as he was held up at a job) but we saw our beautiful blackbutt flooring .. it has been given a very light sand for the first time. It will take 5 days to complete the whole house as it has to be done in stages. I am so excited that I couldn't help but post pictures. Feeling much more positive as the house is starting to look less like a bomb site and more like a home we can actually move in to. Getting closer to moving in....but still feels like a dream.

Sorry I haven't posted a while and commented on all my favourite blogs! I have been so preoccupied with other things in life, dwelling on a few 'well meaning' comments by neighbours about why hasn't our house been finished yet. I think I can almost see the end in sight. We have had so many tradesman at our house, frantically trying to finish it off before our builder goes away on another overseas holiday. We have to be in before he goes...that is a given. This is such a critical time for a house build like this as the attention to detail is so important. If he rushes the jobs, it will show. We haven't waited 16 months to get a second rate finish to our house. Renderers are almost finished and the house looks so much better. Our beautiful, beautiful front door was put on today. Look at the finish, I have never seen such a finish to a front door. It is like glass and the colour is just stunning in real life. Our builder really has got some really top tradies working for him. This is what keeps me positive.So, a few more pictures...

Front of house with our new front door and render almost done...

Our shiny green door, I still cant get over the glass look it has...I cant wait to see how my native garden is going to look at the front of the house.

Side of the house...

Our back garden...fence almost completed (the coulor of the fence is suppose to be the dark colour as in the previous picture) I take terrible photos!

Kitchen pictures for borg (member of my house forum)

I didn't go for an undermount sink like so many kitchens have now. I was so concerned about my granite , banging heavy greasy pots on it that I decided to go for the sink as shown in the picture.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

We are slowly getting there...Hooray! Renderers have been there for 2 days, doing the final coat, still not finished but bit by bit, the house is starting to look complete. The decking has been done back and front which I am very happy about. I also met the landscaper today and he seemed so enthusiastic, lovely and very inventive. I am having an all Australian native garden and he picked the colours of purple, silver and yellow (I think this is what he said) colours that compliment a modern exterior. In the front will be like a native rock garden...4 -5 big feature rocks spread out and all the beautiful natives growing between. He also picked a few native grasses as well which I have admired in other gardens in the area. He is also doing the back garden as well in the same theme. I was really impressed by his ideas so to say I cant wait would be an understatement.

Front of house with new walk way.

Here are some shots of my almost completed exterior. Still not all rendered the final colour, mainly the left side needs to be done. There also will be a beautiful green door to set of the front entrance, Still waiting for it to be delivered.

The box feature on top of the door will be the dark chocolate colour...still to be rendered

Kitchen with the new overheads

Ensuite with basin, tap and toilet.

Back shot of my house

Between the fence pillars will be a metal fence, all neighbours have this as we all have to be consistent. This is according to planning guidelines. Pillars will also be rendered the dark chocolate colour.

Decking at the back of house

It is such a fantastic size, already I am imagining all my barbecues with friends out here!

It sits nice and flush with the door...

Front steps

So not long now...starting to look good! Still so much work to go but lets remain positive!

17 days to go before we move in. Do I think we are going to make it? No, simply because my builder will not rush any job and accept poor quality work. For example...the kitchen guys was there again (for about the 8th time) and he said he has taken away all my top panels. Apparently my builder didn't like the paint finish so he has told them to do it again. We still have all the plumbing to do which includes fireplaces, air conditioning etc, concreting and landscaping. But the biggest annoyance during this whole build is the half finish render on the outside. I told my supervisor this and he said it is always done last so it is not ruined by other work. I understand this but gees the house looks so incomplete, that's why I haven't taken any outside shots for my blog.

So what has been happening this week....The lights and we have so many of them. When our architect designed the house 2 years ago, I said to him that one of the features I would like are lights that can be set to create different moods in the house. In saying this, we have not got any fancy technology like a C-Bus system as this type of thing is just not in our budget. By lights I mean downlights and LED wall lights, set on different controls so that we can easily change the lighting in our house. We have these really nice wall niches at the entrance of our home and yesterday we saw them lit up for the first time. I nearly fainted at how nice they looked and the WOW factor they gave.

Also, I have been researching on how to take good interior shots. The fantastic group on my house forum have given me some great advise as well (not that I understand any of the technical jargon hehe) but I think its time to learn how to use my camera properly and stop being lazy! So hopefully the following pictures haven't got this sickly grey tinge like in the previous house shots.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Its been a few days since I have updated my blog...I actually had nothing to write about as no one has been working on the house.....I had another one of my meltdowns again and ended up in bed with a migraine. Well its official, you know its only 20 days before we move in, big countdown as I have set the 31st of March as my handover date. I sent my builder an email 4 days ago asking for a definite date so we will see a what happens.

So what has been happening. Most of the lights have been installed which is very exciting as one of the features of our house is the mood lighting. We actually saw the lights on today as the electrician was doing his final check...still a few hours of work left but I am rapt. We have gone crazy over the amount of lights that we have but never will even a quarter be on at the same time. The wall lights that you see in the photo are LED's and are designed to stay on a great lengths of time and use very little power. My feature chandelier in the bedroom looks just perfect and of course the photos do not do it justice. I really must learn how to take good interior design shots when the time comes...If anybody has any tips for taking house shots I am all ears!

So, here are a few random light shots not very inspiring but for the next few weeks this will still be a house build blog.

The lights on the bottom part of the wall are the LED's. They actually are blue when lit up. These will mainly be on at night for the kids if they wake up.

My beautiful contemporary chandelier. It is just perfect for the room and hung at the right height. Of course all the crystals are safely tucked away until we move in. If you look closely, you will also see some small light fittings beside the window. We had no idea they were here until the builder asked us to pick the fitting for them. They are actually lights that shine upwards. I will not get any bedside lamps until I can see the whole room set up.

This photo is taken from the lounge room upstairs. Imagine our bed underneath the window with the chandelier over it.

This 'interesting picture' (not!) is actually how they do our floating glass mirror with the lights behind it.That long white thing is the light, we have one on both side. It is going to be tiled around the edges.

Kitchen cupboard detailing. Starting to look really nice now but still not 100% completed

Monday, March 9, 2009

Yesterday was a bit like a roller coaster... I met my supervisor at the house and he told me another four weeks. Excuse me, but hasn't he read that I am moving in 20 days, after all, its on my blog therefore official?

Anyway, all was not lost as I had planned a shopping trip to a new homewares store that promised all these wonderful, unique handcrafted goodies. A Big thank you to

who put me onto this shop in Fitzroy. Every week she does this wonderful Monday Shop post where she does a write up about small design/homewares shops around Melbourne. Lee is a wealth of information about where to shop. So.... off I trot, still angry and annoyed, to a wonderful store called Southwood Home. Even standing outside the window, I loved the whole concept of the store even before I took a step into the shop. All products are handmade by local artists therefore it is more pricey than your cheap imports in chain shops. Anyway, to see all the pictures of whats there, go over and visit Lee's blog. I have included a few other pictures on my blog as well.

See that red painting in the corner..it is stunning in real life. The whole shop is just styled so beautifully.

The cushions remind me very much of what you can buy on Etsy, very unique. This is an older picture but I like it because that handcrafted bed is very similar to mine...it gives me good ideas on how to style my own bed.

All their bowls are hand made, they felt so nice to touch.....

The tree blanket I feel in Love with! I am going to get one but will wait until I have set up my bed. It comes in 5 different colours. I noticed they had a few vintage pieces mixed in, the lamp bases are old, painted over but its the shades that give it that WOW factor.

Just some more amazing cushions and the lamp shades are a must as well. I could easily spend soooooo much money in this shop. I think just one piece at a time!